"I respect the man trying to find his lost dog," Mr. Carter said. "I understand there may be a personal thing, and the dog may be like family."
But Mr. Carter is also searching for something - er, someone. As of Friday, he had the distinction of having filed the most recent "missing person" report with Toledo police.
...
Early Friday morning, the 27-year-old man reported Troy Martin, his 15-year-old foster son, missing.
...
"The dog may be like family," he allowed, "but it's not as important as another human being. A child."
Be that as it may, I'm guessing no city official sent out any e-mails about any missing kids.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080316/COLUMNIST...
Devine De Boer has sumed it up nicely. What a sick world we live in.
This is definitely abuse of position. If a lower level city employee would have sent out emails about their missing pet to all city employees there would be disciplinary action in store for the employee. Is Hizzoner going to suspend RR for three weeks?
Here's what we do. We snatch Erin, drop her off in the middle of I-75 during drive time, go back, snatch Reinbolt, boot him out the door in the middle of I-75 and see how he fares. That'll teach him for caring about his dog. And that'll teach Carty and all of us a lesson in, what, er, I'm not exactly sure. I know I'm supposed to be outraged that a man and his dog are reunited partly because of media exposure. But didn't all of us who own dogs give our pets an extra tight hug and a few extra scruffs behind the ears because of this? Forget the I-75 thing. Let's all go walk our dogs. And to those who don't have dogs, why are you living life as pond scum?
I didn't have problems with the emails to co-workers so much, as I did with the newspaper space the Blade donated to this man & his dog - for 3 days. Anybody who's had a dog or cat can respect & empathyize with what he was going through, emotionally - especially those who have also had to have a pet put down prior to current missing pet. It's not the man or his dog I have issues with - even misusing his position, it's not the man I am angry with. It is The BLADE. Unless this man pulled strings with the Blade or was otherwise well enough connected to those in power at the Blade to get free PR for his missing (and then a huge article saying the dog was found), then the Blade took it upon itself to surmise that this missing dog was newsworthy enough for so much paper space. I wonder what about this situation the Blade found most newsworthy - that he misused his position or that his dog was missing. If it was about misuse of position then why did the Blade give so much space today to say the dog had been found?
Any other person who has a pet gone missing has to, at best, pay the Blade for a classified ad which runs about a week or so. And search for the missing pet with no help from the media, post flyers, etc. At worst, many people cannot afford a classified in the Blade to alert the public to their lost pet (especially when it only runs about a week). Also, just because people pay for ads about their lost pets, does not mean other people take the time to even look at the 'lost & found pets' section of the classifieds, so their ad usually goes unnoticed, money wasted. So this man got an enormous advantage with the free PR from the media - lots of people had their eyes open for that dog (not even for the reward). So in that respect, I am furious with the Blade that it gave special treatment to this man/dog that would never in a million years be offered to anybody else. I have had pets go missing, and know well the fear, heartache, loss - and how much time, money, labor we spent searching. We walked & drove the streets at all hours or the day & night, in horrible cold wet weather, following any possible lead our flyers & ads led us to - which were all false leads - for three months we did this, rehanging flyers, posting ads, search parties, etc. Sadly, our missing pet was reported dead about 3 months after we'd given up this three month search (a nasty neighbor let us know, long after the fact, that he'd found our dead cat under his deck, during the time we'd been searching (we had looked under his deck) & just never told us. Yes, I am angry - it's personal with me. The solution I offer to the Blade, is to offer free ads & photos of lost & found pets daily, and not bury them in the oblivion that is the classifieds. It's only fair - what's good for one is good for all. I'm sure that if the Blade didn't suffer any financial hardships by giving up all that free paper space - often front page & carried onto a second page, for three days - then it certainly can afford to donate a page a day to free lost & found ads.
The solution I offer to the Blade, is to offer free ads & photos of lost & found pets daily, and not bury them in the oblivion that is the classifieds. It's only fair - what's good for one is good for all. I'm sure that if the Blade didn't suffer any financial hardships by giving up all that free paper space - often front page & carried onto a second page, for three days - then it certainly can afford to donate a page a day to free lost & found ads.
I like this idea. Maybe just a banner highlighted in some color like RED to get your attention across the top of the paper right under the slogan..."One of Americas Great Newspapers. Kind of an Amber Alert for Pets. See example below...
- Just the KAT, thinking out loud again. :)
The banner is a good idea - although I think photos of the lost pets grab people's attention. The classified ad for a lost pet wasn't cheap so I can assume that a lot of people simply can't afford the ads - and don't have the political 'hook-ups' fhat Carty's guy did. And even with this guys position to misuse, why would the Blade care beyond the fact that he misused his position? I mean, care enough for all that paper space for 3 days? It went swiftly from 'misuse of power' to drama over a lost dog & the dogs return. Don't misunderstand me - I felt bad for the man & his dog, and can't really blame him for his emotional grasping at ways to find his dog. But why so much concern by the Blade for his dog? This was low priority compared to more pressing things for city govt. to be dealing with - as well as the Blade. Unless it was a really slow news week.